Trees by a Lake 1910

Childe Hassam made this painting called ‘Trees by a Lake’ with watercolour paints, and looking at it, I can almost smell the water and greenery. The way Hassam has used the paint here, it’s so fluid, so loose, it's like he’s letting the water do half the work. He's really letting the watercolour do what it wants to do. Look at how the green bleeds into the blue of the sky, or how the reflections in the lake are just these watery blobs of color. It’s like he’s capturing a fleeting moment, a sensory experience, rather than a precise image. I think of someone like John Singer Sargent when I see this; both were playing with this looseness and immediacy. What’s cool is how they each interpreted that freedom. Art is always like a conversation, artists riffing off each other, pushing ideas in different directions. And for me, this piece is a reminder that art isn't about perfect representation, it's more about feeling, about letting the medium speak.